The Year of 39
by Kero The Frog
Summary: In the year of 39, his dreams took him far away from those he loved. Oliver x Len.


Disclaimer: The song, 39, belongs to Queen. I don't own it the plot, just my own writing.

* * *

_In the year of '39 assembled here the Volunteers_

_In the days when lands were few_

_Here the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn_

_The sweetest sight ever seen._

_And the night followed day_

_And the story tellers say_

_That the score brave souls inside_

_For many a lonely day sailed across the milky seas_

_Never looked back, never feared, never cried._

The year of 39. It was tearful, lonely day, and he all too well recalled his tearful eyes, wiped away as quickly as they were replaced by a white cloth. That memory was burned into his memory. Oliver had been dressed in his pure white outift, a pure contrat to the darkness of space he would soon be enveloped in.

"Are you sure about this?" He had asked, voice quivering with the weight of his sorrow and the reality he was finally being forced to face.

"I'm sorry." His voice wasn't more than a whisper, and he pulled her close, kissing his lover lightly on the cheek. "I'll be fine" he promised, though he was well aware that it wasn't him he was worried for, but rather himself. "They aren't sure how long the journey will take. It could only be a year."

"Or a decade, or longer!" He looked up to him, eyes fearful. "Please, Oliver, you have a child! Think of her, you don't want them to grow up without their father because you wanted to explore some other wo-"

"Len, please, try to understand." Oliver sighed, shaking his head. "This is for the good of all humanity. If we don't do this..."

"But why you?" Len was choking up on his tears and he gripped Oliver tightly, forehead resting on his shoulder. "There are billions of other people in this world, why does it have to be you?"

"Because I've trained for this for years. Len, I've been waiting for this opportunity for so long..."

"But how can you just leave your husband and daughter behind? Oliver, she'll-"

"No." Oliver shook his head firmly. "Len, I'm so sorry. But you can't talk me out of this. If we don't do this... You know what will happen. Our sacrifice is worth it for humanity to live. Just imagine..." he looked up to the stars. "Maybe one day little Rin will get to live up there because of what we did. She'll finally get to leave this ruined, desolate earth for a new home."

Len nodded reluctantly. "I guess when you put it like that..." He didn't appear comforted, though.

"We don't have any other options, Len." Oliver wrapped his arms tighter around his lover. "Do you understand that? Humanity stops here, on this desert wasteland if we don't do something. Our children and their children will never get to see what it's like to live somewhere truly happy. They'll never get the chance to live and start their own family safely."

"So basically, you're saving them from our fate?" Len closed his eyes, a few more tears rolling down his cheeks. "I guess I see what you mean... Please though, be safe." He leaned up and he and Oliver shared one final kiss before a voice came over the speakers announcing it was time for the volunteers to board the ship.

"_I'll see you soon."_ Oliver promised Len sincerely, giving his lovers hand one last squeeze before he let go and turned around. He failed to see Len as he watched him every step of the way, every step that took him further away from Len. Towards the path that would lead him somewhere farther away from Len than the blonde could ever truly understand or comprehend. And perhaps it was for good Len never appreciated the distance that Oliver would be traveling away from him.

All at once, Len hated humanity like he never had before. Sure, he had been annoyed with individuals before, but never had he felt this burning hatred. If only they hadn't destroyed earth. If only they hadn't turned it into a place that could only barely sustain the ever shrinking human race, then Oliver could've stayed with him. They could've raised Rin together, and been a perfect family. Oliver would've taught her all about the night sky, about the places he wished to visit, but deep down didn't really because it would take him too far away from his family. That's all he wanted, was that really too much to ask for?

Apparently so. He still had one hope to hang onto, though. Oliver had no idea how long the journey would take. He said it might only take a year. Waiting ten, twenty, even fifty years would be better than not seeing Oliver ever again, right?

_One year later for Oliver_

Oliver felt his heart start racing the moment that Earth came into view. Immediately he was glued to the window, eyes wide.

It was amazing how different it looked now. They had only been gone a year, much, much less time than he had been expecting.

They had found the planet they were looking for. It was habitable, free of other life forms and the perfect place for humanity to rise again. He could almost see Rin laughing, playing on its surface...

"We're so close." His voice was a hoarse whisper, since he hadn't done much talking with the other volunteers for the year they had been together. Mostly he just read and stared out the window into the vast expanse of space.

But at long last, here they were here! Home! Oliver couldn't take his eyes off the window until he was forced to by the landing preparations.

Oh, he couldn't wait to see Len! And Rin too, she must've grown during the past year. Excitement flooded through him. Len would be so happy!

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Oliver groaned as they approached their home. One of the other volunteers chuckled.

"Someone's impatient" he said, amused.

"I want to see how my home's changed, of course I'm impatient!" Oliver cried childishly, and the crew smiled softly, for once their tension and silence broken, They were all in a good mood that day.

So good, in fact, all of them failed to notice how grey and lifeless the Earth looked now.

_Don't you hear my call though you're many years away_

_Don't you hear me calling you_

_Write your letters in the sand_

_For the day I take your hand_

_In the land that our grandchildren knew._

_In the year of '39 came a ship in from the blue_

_The volunteers came home that day_

_And they bring good news of a world so newly born_

_Though their hearts so heavily weigh_

The moment they retrieved the volunteers from their ship, Oliver asked the only mind that had been in his mind for days.

"Where's Len?" he asked, not caring about anything else.

The two guides helping the volunteers back to the station glanced at each other nervously. Immediately, Oliver realized something was wrong.

"What is it? Where's Len?" He demanded, dread filling every corner of his body.

"...Maybe it's better you see yourself." The one on the right spoke weakly. "Alright?"

"No, I need to know where Len is!" Oliver grabbed the left one's wrist. "Please! What happened?"

The person he grabbed sighed softly and pulled their hand out of Oliver's. "Oliver Kagamine," he started, sounding so formal and distant that Oliver knew any news he had woiuld be devistating. "It is with great regret and sorrow I inform you that you're husband, Len Kagamine, died thirty nine years ago at the age of eighty five years."

"..." Oliver was silent, stunned by what he heard. "What?! No, that can't be right, we were only gone for a year! Len was alive when I left! This has to be a prank-"

"For you."

"What?" Oliver asked, greatly confused by now.

"It's been a year for you, but for the rest of us it's been a century."

Oliver's good eye widened and he started at them dumbstruck. He'd heard about the theory of relativity many times, but doubted that it would happen to him. How had he been so stupid? Had the other members of the crew realized this had happened to them? Did they not care?

He remembered from college. They taught him time passes differently for objects traveling space than on the Earth. Why had he been so stupid? Of course he should've thought of that!

But here he was. A hundred years had passed since they left. And there was no way to go back in time.

"Well, what about Rin?" he asked fervently, hoping he would get to at least see his daughter.

He shook his head, sighing softly at Oliver. "I'm sorry. She died a few years ago, probably from old age. I can't recall all the details. But she did have a child, named for the very father she never knew. And, I believe, he has a child of his own too,"

A grandson. At the age of 25 Oliver had a child who was older than him and had died of old age before him, a grandson, and a great grandchild. Never in all his years had he imagined something like this.

But he couldn't focus on that at the moment. Because Len was gone...

Tears immediately flooded his eyes. Len was dead. He had been right in his worrying. Oh, if only he hadn't gone out in the first place...

But he couldn't redo this. He couldn't redo any of this.

"Where's he?" he managed to choke out, barely able to hold back the tears.

* * *

**_Please forgive me Len. If only you or Rin could've seen the planet we found. Maybe Oliver and his son will. I hope that's enough to please your spirit, wherever you are..._**

What was the point of praying now? Surely there wasn't a benevolent god or they would've have made him go through this. What was the point if there was?

_It's for the good of humanity. _Even his own voice was hollow in his ears. He should've been selfish. But he knew he never could've done that. So many people would be saved because of this.

Even so, facing his husbands gravestone after only six years of being together was only harder because of that. Did Len understand the stakes? Or was he furious that Oliver had left him alone? He would never know...

At the sight of Len's name engraved in stone, the final diagnosis of death, he completely broke down. Never once during their journey had he cried, but now he couldn't stop. The man was stuck there, repeating "_I'm sorry. I'm sorry"_ over and over to himself, not caring if any passers by thought he was crazy. He was, really. Without the hope of seeing Len again... He felt himself crumble inside.

Further back in the graveyard, he could see Rin's girl who had grown up looking up to the sky and dreaming of the father who was up there. Close to her grave sat a stone angel, seeming to weep. It was worn by weather, put there to mock Oliver. It was impossible to tell if it was laughing or crying behind the hands that masked its face. Perhaps it was doing both. One could never know that either.

Before he left, Oliver left Len one final message. "_Len, wherever you are, if you can hear me, I love you. I love you so much."_

Eyes watering, Oliver looked once again to the sky, seeing that the grey clouds had filled the blue ocean above him. In a few moments, they began to water the Earth, mixing with the salty tears on Oliver's face. He didn't care anymore. Let the rain water him just as the parched ground and thirsty plants. He was one of them now. Completely helpless in this changing, drying world.

Gently he touched the gravestone one last time before standing up and heading back to the home his family had been keeping ready for him for a century.

_For the earth is old and grey, little darling we'll away_

_But my love this cannot be_

_For so many years have gone though I'm older but a year_

_Your mother's eyes from your eyes cry to me._

When he got back to the bedroom, nearly the same as he had left it, he began sobbing again. Len didn't live here anymore, but if closed his eyes he could almost imagine...

No. There was no point in that. Wiping the bitter tears from his cheeks, he sat on the bed, looking around the room.

There was something different he noticed nearly immediately. At the edge of the bed lay a large chest that certanly hadn't been there when he left. Confused, he got on the floor and opened it, shocked at what he found.

There were hundreds of letters neatly put in white envelopes, waiting for him. It was clear from the large cursive on their packs that told the date they were written that these were Len's.

They were for him. It was obvious. Who else could they be for, after all?

There were enough here to keep Oliver's loneliness at bay for awhile at least.

"_What am I going to do without you?"_ He sobbed silently, gripping the edge of the chest. "_I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."_ He looked at the letters that had made their way to them. "_I wish there was some way I could respond..."_

Completely drained, he set the letter back in the chest for later and climbed into the bed, surrounded by the familiar and comforting quilt. Only Len was missing from the bed. He had been robbed of the simple pleasure of having someone else close to him at night to fend off invisible evils that haunted his sleep. He tossed and turned the entire night, fearing what was to come. Or, more like, what _wasn't_ to come. Oliver was terrified of that. His heart throbbed painfully, and the entire night he ached to join Len wherever he was. For the entire night he tossed and turned, trying to come up with a reason to live.

He couldn't think of any.

And this was only one night. How could he possibly survive the rest of them?

_Don't you hear my call though you're many years away_

_Don't you hear me calling you_

_All your letters in the sand cannot heal me like your hand_

_For my life_

_Still ahead_

_Pity Me._


End file.
